Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-04-04
THEN AND NOW.
A Glance at the Columns OF q
Pioneer Los Angeles Newspaper.

auuibto VI tuc oscIduo AAoho ~ o"A'
willie, and who was one of tho origina
proprietors of the Los Angeles Star, ha
sent us a copy of that paper of date Ma.
"a, 1851. A glance at its columns re-
calls to mind many old names and Incl
dents that had almost passed from mem.
ory. This issue of the Star contains
very cursory account of the great fir,
that swept the city of San Francisco
from the face of the earth OF
the 4th of May; and also ,
short minute of the one that destroyed
S .ockton on the l4th of the same month
San Francisco had then been burnt
down five times, and was destined to be
again destroyed on the Sd of June oil
the same year. The steamer Gollah,
Captain Bob Haley, of happy memory,
was hen plying between San Francisco
and San Pedro, and the mails for the
former city were then made up at the
store of Wheeler John o. & Morgan,
where the Farmers & Merchants Bank
now is. The paper before us announces
that during the early part of the week
we were visited with repeated and copi.
GUS showers of rain," so that we have
precedent for more pluvial weather for
nearly two months to come.
In looking over the advertising col
ums of this newspaper relic, We find that
a whig meeting hud been held, presided
over by Don Abel Stearns, with John O.
Wheeler as Secretary. The proceedings
show that Hon. Andreas Plco and Benz.
ID. Wilson were nominated for the As
sembly, and that, as q matter of course,
''the remarks of the various speakers
were to the point, and the right spirit
pervaded all present." Concise enough,
especially as the whole report was pub
lished as an advertisement and paid for
at 49 rates. Among the lawyers of
the period who had the enterprise to
publish their cards in the only paper
then printed south of Monterey IF
we except the San Diego Herald, made
famous by Lieutenant Derby, alias
"Squibob. alias "Phepix, !" the pioneer
humorist,) were Scott h Hayes; j. B.
Magruder; Jones, Tompkins & Strobe
(the Jones being the renowned VIM.
Carey, son.in-law, equally with Cen
eral Fremont, OF Senator Benton; I. S.
X. Ogier, afterwards Judge of the
United States District Court for the
Southern district of California, lust now
We also notice the modest
card of McFarland & Downey, who an.
nounce themselves as "Boticarios v Qui.
micos, of more value to them, doubtless,
in the Castilian than if it were in the
English ldiom.
But the piece de resistance amongst
The "noticias" of this issue is the an.
nouncement of Henry Dalton that he
proposes to divide his land at the Azusa
into farm lots to suit purchasers at a
nominal price per acre and on the most
favorable terms. As an inducement to
settlers to buy these lands he says that
there is on this land beautiful site for
town, which intend to lay out as
'oon as the wants of trade among settlers
require it, and also to build merchant
iouring mill near by" Alas,
.or the plans of men! That same
;own site has just been laid
,ut, and last week il was put upon
The market to be gobbled up at fabulous
orices-prices that would make poor
Henry Dalton quiver in his grave could
be have knowledge of their enormous
reach in dollars and cents.
The sender of this ancien. chronicle
If the days doings in Los Angeles, in a
etter accompanying it indulges in some
objections upon what this city was then.
He writes:
"Whon the Star was started, Los An.
yeles was nothing but struggling Mex.
can town-the most populous of its
Kind in the State. The American popu.
alton was small, but few families resid.
ng in or near the city. On the occasion
If an alarm and fears of an Indian out
'reak, an enumeration Of those supposed
% be true was taken, and then there were
'nly about one hundred and sixty or
evenly. It was feared at one time that
he native Californians would Join the
indians to drive the Americans out of
he country, but the fear proved to be
,roundless. But when the news came
rom San Francisco that Billy Mulligan,
lin Hughes and others of that ilk were
coming to fight off the Indians, there was
great CONSERVATION. Many preferred
he Indians to the class of men enlisted
n that company"
He also indulges in retrospective
glance at the orange industry, and says:
"There were but few oranges in
hose days, few trees in the gardens
belonging to Don Manuel Requena, and
hose of Don Luis Vignes, of the Aliso
were bearing scantily; while
It Wolfskills the few trees were
younger, but produced better quality.
At San Gabriel the orchard was un-
fenced, the trees untrimmed, and the
fruit Indifferent. At Hugo Reid's the
fruit was hetter. From the accounts l
receive there must have been q wonder
ful growth of everything, from the
scraggy little paper l send you, to the
prosperous metropolitan journals now
published in your young giant city Of
The SOUTH"
True for you, dear old friend! If
you could leave your Home and return
to the field of your youthful editorial
labors. you would behold changes more
wonderful than ever greeted the eye of
Aladdin. In the spot where YOU got
out your little sheet you would see not
. "straggling Mexican city with low.
rooted adobes," but immense blocks of
modern buildings of substantial con-
and of beautiful architecture.
Instead of few orange trees strug-
Cling, as you say, for existence. you
would behold great stretches of
orchards groaning under the weight of
their golden. hued fruit. You would
behold long vistas of vineyards, grateful
to the eye, and on every hand you would
see, instead of brown hills and parched
plains, beautiful gardens and palatial
residences. Alas, friend of our early
days, it is not for you to witness these
wonderful changes; and perhaps it is
best that it is so. Your lot is hard
enough, without having added to it that
worst Of sorrows, to return, like Joseph,
to the house of his fathers. only to find
himself stranger and unknown.